xine wrote:I here you Time4Tea. I just got my brudder to shovel my car out..hehe...the perks of working from home!

My feet are very cold, and I would like to soak them in some of my Golden Monkey i'm having, nice and piping hot. I'm going to blend some teas for a friend coming to brave the conditions and have some fancy formosa oolong once i can get away to eat something..a little chicken vindaloo? Perhaps I should have a Darjeeling instead.

Does that really work--soaking your feet in hot tea? The thought of that might just make shoveling a little easier today!

I was supposed to fly out of Newark this morning to visit my parents. I heard the flights had 6 hour delays. It finally stopped snowing in our town but we're due for more later.

Chip wrote:I will be looking at new vendors for Taiwan oolong this Spring. I can't get any Winter oolong...still have too much here already.

I'm drinking some baozhong from Floating Leaves tea, and I have to say I'm impressed. It's the "honorable mention" baozhong, and it's not even their best, according to tenuki. Should be on the "must buy" list for any Taiwanese oolong lover, IMO.

I get my water from a purified water store. They use a 12-Stage Water Purification System. I chose "other" in the poll since they use carbon filters, reverse osmosis, ozone and utraviolet disinfection, and multiple micron sediment filters, blah blah blah. All I know is that it makes good tea and costs only $2 for 5 gallons. I just put the 5 gallon bottle on my water cooler/heater with digital temperature control and I'm all set to make tea. I tried using some mountain spring water a few time to make tea. I didn't like the results, totally changed the flavors and had an oily film floating on the surface.

I had tung ting and tamaryokucha already today. Currently looking over my tea stash for my next fix.

I've been considering getting some Taiwan oolong from Floating Leaves too. Does anyone know how much tea comes in their samples?

I started out using bottled spring water when I first found out that tap water makes bad tea. Then we got a pitcher filter for drinking water and found out that filtered tap water was actually better than the spring water, so that's what I use now. Portland actually has really good water that comes from snow melt from the mountains. The water is generally perfectly balanced in terms of pH, hardness, etc., and has no nitrates. Apparently this is one of the few places that doesn't have to purify the water, so I just have to dechlorinate.

At some point I want to put together my own filter that actually dechlorinates the water, as opposed to the Brita which only removes the odor. It's mainly just a matter of using more carbon. I may just get a big dispenser that will keep enough water for a day and let it sit overnight before using to let the chlorine out-gas, though the Zoji dechlorinates just through slow-boiling the water (though using straight tap water does still make some difference in the tea).

I'd get a reverse-osmosis unit, but they remove all minerals making the water too soft.

I started the day with 2007 A-Li-Shan Hand-Harvested Winter "Petals" Oolong from Hou De.

ABx wrote:I started the day with 2007 A-Li-Shan Hand-Harvested Winter "Petals" Oolong from Hou De.

Brewing that gongfu? Wish that was in my cup instead of my cupboard.

I have gone from so-so to worse unfortunately. After my not so nice 3rd steep of the Upton TQY, which was not so nice to start with - I being of UNsound mind and body, accepted a cup of something called - Yogi Tea Mayan Coco Spice from a co-worker. I think you know the two letter word I'm thinking of.

I am with RO water the way others are with scales and timers! If I have to use tap water, I just won't drink tea! We ran out of bottled water at work last week and I made one cup of "tap water tea" and gagged. I have a RO system, and it's the best investment as far as purchases for our home. Kids drink far more water than they did before we bought it. Well worth the money. My unilitea still looks great, coffee maker has never been delimed.

Today has been a green tea day all the way. Shencha fuka-midori fr Dens.

I've come in from tramping in the fresh snow, and am enjoying a hot cup of rooibos. Most of the time, my water is quite drinkable, straight from the tap. If I can smell any chlorine, I will run it through a Britta pitcher before making tea.